hilary clinton

Sen.-elect Tom Cotton, on the trail in Jonesboro, Ark., was a top Republican Senate recruit. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

The sweeping Republican victories were thanks to two years of internal speculation and trying to beat the Democrats "at their own game," a new GOP memo argues.

"This did not happen by accident," read a joint memo from the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Democrats expected to win; they bragged that they would win. They would have won, had we not beat them at their own game."